10. The Lethal Farting Volcano
The 1783 Laki Eruption was not exactly one of history’s most powerful volcanic events. It was not a massive and violent eruption like Vesuvius or Krakatoa or Tambora. It did not look anything like what most people imagine when picturing a volcano going off with a bang, blowing its top, and releasing a massive amount of energy in a dramatic explosion. There were no fires reaching to the heavens, or rivers of lava rushing down the volcano’s sides.
Indeed, the Laki Eruption was not even a single explosive event. Instead, it was eight months of rumblings, interspersed by relatively small eruptions from time to time, with lava slowly seeping out of the side every now and then, while the volcano steadily spewed sulfuric dioxide gasses. Laki was not a vigorous and energetic volcano, but a tired and lazy one, steadily farting gasses for months before it finally subsided and went quiet. Nonetheless, Laki was the deadliest volcanic eruption in human history.